


Hurry Up and Wait

by writerdot



Series: 14 Day McDanno Challenge [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Slash, post episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 07:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3601752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerdot/pseuds/writerdot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s going to make sure to get his hands on his partner himself, make sure that he’s okay.</p><p>A Post Ep for 5x18 and my first installment in the 14 Day McDanno Challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hurry Up and Wait

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you so much for the warm welcome on my first Mcdanno fic! I was nervous, but you guys are great. So, I've been toying with the idea of doing the 30 Day McDanno challenge, but I was nervous about writing in a new fandom so I wanted to test the waters with a little ficlet. Well, now I'm definitely inspired to try the challenge. This is my first installment. I'm going to just let it take me where it will. I don't think these will all be connected to each other, the ideas that are swirling in my head are making them all separate little fics. But if some of them end up connected, I will let you know.
> 
> So here I go. A post Ep for 5x18.

**Day 1-Holding Hands**

He's at the airfield far too early, but he can't help it. He's alone, now, but he had spent the last evening with Grace and the team (after making sure Alexander was secure) who had begged him and her mom to come with him this morning. Knowing that it wasn't actually his decision to make, he'd done his best to stay out of it, avoiding looking at Grace's blatant puppy dog eyes. Rachel, who, of course, was immune to the puppy dog eyes where Steve wasn't, put her foot down and he's actually glad for that. He's not sure what kind of shape Danny will be in when he steps off that plane, and, in case it's dire, Grace shouldn't see that without Danny's consent. The team had understood this reasoning as far as they went, too. They'd all extracted the promise from Steve to call as soon as he had Danny back.

A half an hour before the plan lands, he decides to have EMS on standby. He knows his best friend. The first person he will want to see is his daughter, but Steve will make sure he is in one piece first.

Five minutes before the plan lands, he’s out of his truck, practically standing on the runway. When the plane finally rolls to a stop, he makes his way to the door as the exit ramp is lowered. He’s going to make sure to get his hands on his partner himself, make sure that he’s okay.

Except that Danny doesn’t make it all the way down.

He runs as fast as he can up the ramp, signaling to the EMTs, as Danny bats away the hands of the US Marshals attempting to help him stand, seeming to get more agitated every second.

“Danny,” Steve says firmly, glaring at the US Marshals, too. After everything, he’s not too enamored with the whole system right now.

He grabs Danny’s hands as the paramedics reach them. “Danny, I’ve got you. Okay? Calm down, buddy, I’ve got you. Slow your breathing down or you're going to hyperventilate.”

He breathes with him, gets Danny calmed down enough that he feels comfortable letting the paramedics touch him. They just need to get to the stretcher at the end of the ramp so they can wheel Danny to the ambulance.

Danny, of course, notices all of this, starts to get agitated again.“No hospital.”

“Listen to me,” Steve says, squeezing Danny’s hand. “That’s why they’re here.  I know you want to see Grace, and you will. But you have to let them check you out. If they clear you, no hospitals.”

He can practically see the wheels turn in Danny’s brain as he considers. He finally nods in acquiescence and Steve breathes a sigh of relief. As he takes out his phone to make the promised phone call to the team, he still keeps an eagle eye on the paramedics work. 

When he sees the beginnings of the bruises on Danny's chest, he dearly wishes he'd punched Alexander when he'd had the chance.

*****

“God,” Danny sighs, sitting gingerly onto Steve’s couch and sprawling as best he can. “I am so tired, I feel like I could sleep for eighty years."

Steve knows the feeling, but he can’t take his eyes off of Danny. He’d managed to get away with three cracked ribs and so many bruises that he’d lost count as the EMTS had treated him, but nothing life threatening. Thank God. They’d taped his ribs and told Steve to keep an eye on him and rush him to the ER if necessary.

So, after spending an hour at Rachel’s, he’d automatically headed to his own house to follow orders.

Danny hadn’t put up an argument.

“Can’t imagine why,” Steve answers, sitting down in the recliner. “You do know you aren’t sleeping there right?”

Danny looks at him sharply and Steve doesn’t miss the wince of abused muscles getting a jolt they hadn’t expected. “Ow. What?”

“Would you relax, please?” Steve implores. “I just meant that the last place you should be sleeping right now is on that couch. You can take my bed.”

“I’m not kicking you out of your bed, Steve.”

“You aren’t. I’m offering. I even have some pain meds that are leftover from…well, everything.”

Danny huffs. “’Leftover’ implies you took them at all.”

“Well, there you go,” Steve answers, not able to repress the grin at Danny sounding so Danny-like. “Plenty for you, then.”

“Okay, okay,” Danny says. “I’ll listen to you. Just this once, though. Since I’m too tired to argue.”

“I will put that on my calendar. Come on,” he responds as he gets up, and gently grabs Danny’s hand in a mimicry of earlier at the airstrip. He’s intending to help Danny off the couch, of course, but once Danny is sitting up, he pauses, eyes on their joined hands.

“Steve?”

“Yeah?”

Danny takes a deep breath and looks Steve in the eye. Steve can see the exhaustion and pain, but he also sees the fondness, love, and relief and, God, Steve’s knees almost buckle. He lets himself sit on the coffee table in front of Danny.

“Thank you,” Danny says.

Steve smiles a little. “You said that already.”

“Yeah, but it bears repeating. Really. Thank you for everything. For getting me out of that prison, for being there once I got off the plane, and calming me down when I was losing it. Thanks for letting EMTs patch me up when you would rather have had the Doctors at Tripler spend eight hours doing every test under the sun, so that I can see my daughter as soon as possible. I love you and thank you.”

Steve takes Danny’s other hand, until he’s got all ten fingers wrapped tight and Danny squeezes back. He’d rather wrap his arms around Danny, but this will have to do.

“Please tell me you didn’t expect anything less.”

“Yeah, but...you know I called Grace when I was there?”

He nodded. Grace had let that slip when they had settled in Rachel's living room, Grace attached to her father like a limpet. He’d wondered about it, but hadn’t wanted to push that little detail. Tonight, anyway.

“That’s the thing,” Danny continues, and Steve can see the tears there, too. “I could never expect less than that from you. My signing the extradition treaty and calling Grace, I just need you to know that-

“You were protecting me. I know, Danny.” He didn’t particularly like it. But he’d had a lot of time to think while he was waiting for Danny’s plane and given how things turned out…well, he got Danny back. That’s what matters.

“Yeah. And please trust me when I say that I never doubted you. I just know there were other factors involved. ”

“Like Doris?” Steve answers, dryly.

Danny chuckles. “Her too. Also, I feel that I need to point out that I'm glad that you spilled those beans on the way home without me having to drag them out of you. Just another tick in the 'making progress' list, babe.”

Steve breathes a laugh. “Thanks. I think. I love you too, you know.”

“As my adorable daughter would say...well, duh.”

With a shake of his head, and a snort of laughter, he sees Danny grinning, smug and beautiful.

“Come on,” Steve says, amusement still lacing every word. “Bed time for you.”

Steve helps him up and they’re still holding hands as he guides Danny up the flight of stairs.

“Hey Steve,” Danny grunts out just as they reach the top.

“You’re hurting, I know. We’re almost there.”

“No, that’s not…Well, yes, but no. I remembered something and I have to ask.”

Steve blinks. “Okay.”

“Were you actually risking getting run over by practically standing in front of my plane earlier?”

Steve can’t help a grin. He knows what’s coming. “Maybe.”

Danny snorts. “Listen here, you nut-job…”

And as Steve finds him pajamas and gets him the meds, he listens to every word.

He just makes sure that Danny doesn’t know that.


End file.
